The consequences of governmental methad of Imam Ali for shi ism
The caliphate of Ali began toward the end of the year 35/656 and lasted and about four years and nine months. During his period as caliph Ali followed the ways of the Holy prophet. (Ya qubi, VOI, II, p. 154) And brought conditions back to their original state. He forced the resignation of all the incompetent political elements that had a hand in directing affairs (Yaqubi, VOI, II, p, 155, Muruj al- Murujal- dhahad, VOI, II, p, 364) and began in reality a major trans formation of a” revolutionary nature which caused him innumerable difficulties.
On his first day as caliph, in an address to the people Ali said, “O people, be aware that the difficulties which you faced during the apostolic period of the prophet of God have come upon you once again and seized you. Your ranks must be turned completely around so that the people of virtue who have fallen behind should come forward and those who had come to the fore without being worthy should fall behind There is both truth (haqq) and falsehood (batil). Each has its followers, but a person should follow the truth If falsehood be prevalent it is not something new, and if the truth is are rare and hard to come by, sometimes even that which is rare wins the day so that there is hope of advance. Of course it dose not occur often that something which has turned away from man should return to him (Nahj al- balaghah, the fifteeth sermon).
Ali continued his radically different type of government based more on righteousness than political efficacy but, as is necessary in the case of every movement of this kind, elements of the opposition whose interests were endangred began to display their displeasure and resisted his rule, Basing their actiong on the claim that they wanted to revenge the death of Uthman, they instigated bloody wars which continued throughout almost all the time that Ali was caliph. From the Shiite point of view those who caused these civil wars had no end in mind other than their own personal interest. The wish to revenge the blood of the third caliph was no more than an excuse to fool the crowd. There was no question of a misunderstanding.
Aftter the death of the Holy prophet, a small minority, following Ali, refused to pay allegiance. Ali the head of the minority there were salman, Abu Dharr Miqdad, and Ammar. At the beginning of the caliphate of Ali also a sizable minority in disagreement tefused to pay allegiance. Among the most persistent opponents were said ibn Ass, Walid ibn Uqbah, Marwan ibn Hakam, Amr ibn Ass, Busr ibn Artat, Samurah ibn Jundab, and Mughirah ibn shu’bah.
The study of the biography of these two groups, and meditation upon the acts they have performed and stories recounted of them in history books, reveal fully their religious personality and aim. The first group was among the elite of the companions of the Holy prophet and among the ascetics, devout worshipers and selfless devotees of IsIam who struggled on the path of IsIamic freedom. They were especially loved by the prophet. The prophet said, God has informed me that He loves four men and that I should love them also. They asked about their names. He mentioned Ali and then the names of Abu Dharr, salman and Miqdad ( sunan of Ibn Majah cairo, 1372, VOI, I, p, 66) Aishah has recounted that the prophet of God said, If two alternatives are placed before Ammar, he will definitely choose that which is more true and right. (Ibn Majah, VOI, I, p, 66) The prophet said, There is no one between heaven and earth more truthful than Abu Dharr .(Ibn Majah, VOI, I, P.68) There is no record of a single forbidden act committed by these men during their lifetime They never spilled any blood unjustly, did not commit aggression against anyone, did not steal anyones property, never sought to corrupt and misguide people.
History is, however, full of accounts of unworthy acts committed by some of the second group. The various acts committed by some of these men in opposition to explicit IsIamic teachings are beyond reckoning These acts can not be excused in any manner except the way that is followed by certain group among the sunnis who say that God was satisfied with them and therefore they were free to perform whatever act they wished, and that they would not be punished for violating the injunction and regulations existing in the Holy Book and the sunnah.
The first war in the caliphate of Ali, which is called the Battle of the camel. Was caused by the unfortunate class differences created during the period of rule of the second caliph as a result of the new socioeconomic forces which caued an uneven distribution of the public treasury among members of the community, when chosen to the caliphate, Ali divided the treasury evenly (Muruj al- dhahab, VOI, p, 362, Nahj al- balaghah, sermon 122, ya qubi VOI, p, 160, Ibn Abi –I Hadid, VOI, I, p, 180), as had been the method of the Holy prophet, but this manner of dividing the wealth upset Talhah and zubayr greatly. They began to show signs of disobedience and left Medine for Mecca with the alleged aim of making the pilgrimage They persuaded the mother of the faithful ( ummal mu minin), Aishah, who was not friendly with Ali, to join them and in the name of wanting to revenge the death of the third caliph they began the bloody Battle of the camel (Ya qubi, VOI, II, p, 156, Abu I, fida, VOI, I, p. 172, Muruj al. dhahab, VOI, II. P, 366). This was done despite the fact that this same Talhah and zubayr were in Medina when the third caliph was besieged and killed but did nothing to defend him (Ya qubi, VOI, II, p.152 ). Furthermore, after his death they were the first to pay allegiance to Ali on behalf the immigrants ( muhajirun) as well as on their own (Ya qubi, VOI, II, p, 154, A bu I- fida, VOI, I, p 171 ).
Also, the mother of the Faithful, A ishah, did not show any opposition to those who had killed the third caliph at the moment when she received the news of his death (Ya qubi, VOI, II, p 152 ). It must be remembered that the main investigators of the disturbances that led to the death of the third caliph were those companions who wrote letters from Medina to people near and far inviting them to rebel against the caliph, a fact which is repeated in many early Muslim histories.
AS for the second war, called the Battle of Siffin which lasted for a year and a half, its cause was the covetousness of Mu’awiyah for the caliphate which for him was a worldly political instrument rather than a religious institution .But as an excuse he made the revenge of the blood of the third caliph the main issue and began a war in which more than a hundred thousand people perished without reason. Naturally in these wars Mu’awiyah was the aggressor rather than the defender, for the protest to revenge someone s blood can never occur in the form of defense. The pretext of this war was blood revenge. During the last days of his life, the third caliph, in order to quell the uprising against him, asked Mu’awiyah for help, but the army of Mu’awiyah set out from Damascus to Medinapurposely waited on the road until the caliph was killed. Then he returned to Damascus to begin an uprising to revenge the caliphs death (When Utman was surrounded by those who had rebelled wrote to Mu’awiyah asking for help. Mu’awiyah prepared an army of twelve thousand men and sent and them toward Medina But he asked them to camp around Damascus and came toUthman himself to report on the readiness of the army. Uthman said, you have made your army stop on purpose so that Iwill be killed. Then you will make the spilling of my blood an excuse to revolt yourself, yaqubi VoI, II, p, 152, Murujal- dahab, VoI, III, p, 25, Tabari, VOI, III, p, 403). After the death of Ali and his gaining the caliphate himself, Mu’awiyah forgot the question of revenging the blood of the third caliph and did not pursue the matter furher.
After Siffin there occurred the bettle of Nahrawan in which a number people, among whom there could be found some of the companions, rebelled against Ali possibly at the instigation of Mu’awiyah (MUruj al- dhahab, VOI, II, p, 415). These people were causing rebelling throughout the lands of IsIam, killing the Muslims and especially the followers of Ali. They even attacked pregnant women and killed their babies. Ali put down this uprising as well, but short while later was himself killed in the mosque of kufa by one of the members of this group who came to known as the khawarij.
The opponents of Ali claim that he was a courageous man but did not possess political acumen. They claim that at the beginning of his caliphate he could have temporarily made peace with his opponents .He could have approached them through peace and friend ship, thus courting their satis faction and approval. In this way he could have strengthened his caliphate and only then turned to their extirpation and destruction. What people who hold this view forgot is that the movement of Ali was not based on political opportunism. It was a radical and revolutionary religious movement ( in the truth sense of revolution as a spiritual movement to reestablish the real order of things and not in its current political and social cense)there foreit could not have been accomplished through compromise or flattery and forgery. A similar situation can be been during the apostleship of the Holy prophet. The infidels and polytheists proposed peace to him many time and swore that if he were to abstain from protesting against their gods they would not interfere with his religious mission. But the prophet did not accept such aproposal, although he could in those days of difficulty have made peace and used flattery to forify his own position, and then have risen against his enemies. In fact, the IsIamic message never allows a right and just cause, nor a falsehood to be rejected and disproven through another falsehood. There are many Quranic verses concerning this matter.
During the four year and nine months of his caliphate, Ali was not able to eliminate the disturbed conditions which were prevailing thoughout the IsIamic world, but be was successful in three fundamental ways:
As a result of his just and upright manner of living he revealed once again the beauty and attractiveness of the way of life of the Holy prophet, especially to the younger generation In contrast to the imperial grandeur of Muawiyh, he lived in simplicity and poverty like the poorest of people, he never favored his friends or relatioves and family above others nor did he ever prefer wealth to poverty or brute foce to weakness.
Despite the cumbersome and strenuous difficulties which absorbed his time, he left behind among the IsIamic community a valuable treasury of the truly diving sciences and IsIamic inter llectual disciplines Nahj al- balaghah and hadiths found in books of both sunnis and Shiites Neary eleven thousand of his proverbs and short sayings on different intellectual, religious and social subject have been recorded (Kitab al- ghurar wal- durar of Amidi, sidon, 1349). In his talks and speeches he expounded the most sublime IsIamic sciences in a most elegant and flowing manner. He established Arabic grammar and laid the basis for Arabic literature (such works as the Nahw ( G rammar) of suyuti, Tehran, 128 etc, VOI, II, Ibn, Abi- I- Hadid VOI, I, p, 6).
He was the first in IsIam to delve directly into the questions of metaphysics ( falsa fahi- ilahi) in a manner combining intellectual rigor and logical demonstration. He discussed problem which had never appeared before in the same way among the metaphysician of the word (see Nahj al- balaghah). Moreover, he was so devoted to metaphyics and gnosis that even in that heat of battle he would carry intellectual discourse and discuss metaphysical questions (Amidst the fighting of the Battle of jamal a Bedouin asked Ali. Oh, Commander of the Faithful !you say God is one? People attacked him from two sides said: Don’t you see that Ali is worried and his mind occupied with so many diverse matters? Why do you engage in a discussion with him ? Ali told his companions Leave this man alone My goal in fighting with these people is none other than to clarify true doctrines and the ends of religion Then he set out to answer Bedouin, Bihar al- anwar VOI, II, p, 65).
He trained a large number of religious scholars and IsIamic savants, among who are found a number of ascetics and gnostics who were the forefathers the Sufis, such, men as Uways al- Qarani, kumayl al- Nakhai, Maytham al- Tammar and Roshaid al- Hajari These men have been recognized by the latter sufis as the founders of gnosis in IsIam. Others among his disciples became the first teachers of jurisprudence theology, Quranic commentary and recitation (Ibn Abi I – H adid VoI, pp, 6-9).
1) Different groups of companions after the death of the prophet (p.b, u.h)
After the death of the Holy prophet, a small minority, following Ali, refused to pay allegiance .Ali the head of the minority there were salman, Abu Dharr Miqdad, and Ammar. At the beginning of the caliphate of Ali also a sizable minority in disagreement tefused to pay allegiance. Among the most persistent opponents were said ibn Ass, Walid ibn Uqbah, Marwan ibn Hakam, Amr ibn Ass, Busr ibn Artat, Samurah ibn Jundab, and Mughirah ibn shu’bah.
The study of the biography of these two groups, and meditation upon the acts they have performed and stories recounted of them in history books, reveal fully their religious personality and aim. The first group was among the elite of the companions of the Holy prophet and among the ascetics, devout worshipers and selfless devotees of IsIam who struggled on the path of IsIamic freedom. They were especially loved by the prophet. The prophet said, God has informed me that He loves four men and that I should love them also. They asked about their names. He mentioned Ali and then the names of Abu Dharr, salman and Miqdad ( sunan of Ibn Majah cairo, 1372, VOI, I, p, 66) Aishah has recounted that the prophet of God said, If two alternatives are placed before Ammar, he will definitely choose that which is more true and right. (Ibn Majah, VOI, I, p, 66) The prophet said, There is no one between heaven and earth more truthful than Abu Dharr .(Ibn Majah, VOI, I, P.68) There is no record of a single forbidden act committed by these men during their lifetime They never spilled any blood unjustly, did not commit aggression against anyone, did not steal anyones property, never sought to corrupt and misguide people.
History is, however, full of accounts of unworthy acts committed by some of the second group. The various acts committed by some of these men in opposition to explicit IsIamic teachings are beyond reckoning These acts can not be excused in any manner except the way that is followed by certain group among the sunnis who say that God was satisfied with them and therefore they were free to perform whatever act they wished, and that they would not be punished for violating the injunction and regulations existing in the Holy Book and the sunnah.
2) class differences as a cause of the Baute of came (Jamal)
The first war in the caliphate of Ali, which is called the Battle of the camel. Was caused by the unfortunate class differences created during the period of rule of the second caliph as a result of the new socioeconomic forces which caued an uneven distribution of the public treasury among members of the community, when chosen to the caliphate, Ali divided the treasury evenly Muruj al- dhahab, VOI, p, 362, Nahj al- balaghah, sermon 122, ya qubi VOI, p, 160, Ibn Abi –I Hadid, VOI, I, p, 180,
As had been the method of the Holy prophet, but this manner of dividing the wealth upset Talhah and zubayr greatly. They began to show signs of disobedience and left Medine for Mecca with the alleged aim of making the pilgrimage They persuaded the mother of the faithful ( ummal mu minin), Aishah, who was not friendly with Ali, to join them and in the name of wanting to revenge the death of the third caliph they began the bloody Battle of the came. Ya qubi, VOI, II, p, 156, Abu I, fida, VOI, I, p. 172, Muruj al. dhahab, VOI, II. P, 366,
This was done despite the fact that this same Talhah and zubayr were in Medina when the third caliph was besieged and killed but did nothing to defend him. Ya qubi, VOI, II, p.152
Furthermore, after his death they were the first to pay allegiance to Ali on behalf the immigrants ( muhajirun) as well as on their own.. Ya qubi, VOI, II, p, 154, A bu I- fida, VOI, I, p 171
Also, the mother of the Faithful, A ishah, did not show any opposition to those who had killed the third caliph at the moment when she received the news of his death.. Ya qubi, VOI, II, p 152
It must be remembered that the main investigators of the disturbances that led to the death of the third caliph were those companions who wrote letters from Medina to people near and far inviting them to rebel against the caliph, a fact which is repeated in many early Muslim histories.
3)the conetonsness of Muauiyah for the caliphate as a cause of the Baute of saffin
AS for the second war, called the Battle of Siffin which lasted for a year and a half, its cause was the covetousness of Mu’awiyah for the caliphate which for him was a worldly political instrument rather than a religious institution .But as an excuse he made the revenge of the blood of the third caliph the main issue and began a war in which more than a hundred thousand people perished without reason. Naturally in these wars Mu’awiyah was the aggressor rather than the defender, for the protest to revenge someone s blood can never occur in the form of defense .The pretext of this war was blood revenge.During the last days of his life, the third caliph, in order to quell the uprising against him, asked Mu’awiyah for help, but the army of Mu’awiyah set out from Damascus to Medinapurposely waited on the road until the caliph was killed. Then he returned to Damascus to begin an uprising to revenge the caliphs death. When Utman was surrounded by those who had rebelled wrote to Mu’awiyah asking for help. Mu’awiyah prepared an army of twelve thousand men and sent and them toward Medina But he asked them to camp around Damascus and came toUthman himself to report on the readiness of the army. Uthman said, you have made your army stop on purpose so that Iwill be killed. Then you will make the spilling of my blood an excuse to revolt yourself, yaqubi VoI, II, p, 152, Murujal- dahab, VoI, III, p, 25, Tabari, VOI, III, p, 403,
After the death of Ali and his gaining the caliphate himself, Muawiyah forgot the question of revenging the blood of the third caliph and did not pursue the matter furher.
4) petrifaction as a cause of the Batute of Nahrawan
After Siffin there occurred the bettle of Nahrawan in which a number people, among whom there could be found some of the companions, rebelled against Ali possibly at the instigation of Mu’awiyah .MUruj al- dhahab, VOI, II, p, 415.
These people were causing rebelling throughout the lands of IsIam, killing the Muslims and especially the followers of Ali. They even attacked pregnant women and killed their babies. Ali put down this uprising as well, but short while later was himself killed in the mosque of kufa by one of the members of this group who came to known as the khawarij. The opponents of Ali claim that he was a courageous man but did not possess political acumen. They claim that at the beginning of his caliphate he could have temporarily made peace with his opponents .He could have approached them through peace and friend ship, thus courting their satis faction and approval. In this way he could have strengthened his caliphate and only then turned to their extirpation and destruction. What people who hold this view forgot is that the movement of Ali was not based on political opportunism. It was a radical and revolutionary religious movement ( in the truth sense of revolution as a spiritual movement to reestablish the real order of things and not in its current political and social cense)there foreit could not have been accomplished through compromise or flattery and forgery. A similar situation can be been during the apostleship of the Holy prophet. The infidels and polytheists proposed peace to him many time and swore that if he were to abstain from protesting against their gods they would not interfere with his religious mission. But the prophet did not accept such aproposal, although he could in those days of difficulty have made peace and used flattery to forify his own position, and then have risen against his enemies. In fact, the IsIamic message never allows a right and just cause, nor a falsehood to be rejected and disproven through another falsehood. There are many Quranic verses concerning this matter
5) the shiiahs benefit from the caliphate of Ali
During the four year and nine months of his caliphate, Ali was not able to eliminate the disturbed conditions which were prevailing thoughout the IsIamic world, but be was successful in three fundamental ways,
As a result of his just and upright manner of living he revealed once again the beauty and attractiveness of the way of life of the Holy prophet, especially to the younger generation In contrast to the imperial grandeur of Mu’awiyh, he lived in simplicity and poverty like the poorest of people, he never favored his friends or relatioves and family above others nor did he ever prefer wealth to poverty or brute foce to weakness.
Despite the cumbersome and strenuous difficulties which absorbed his time, he left behind among the IsIamic community a valuable treasury of the truly diving sciences and IsIamic inter llectual disciplines Nahj al- balaghah and hadiths found in books of both sunnis and Shi’ites
Neary eleven thousand of his proverbs and short sayings on different intellectual, religious and social subject have been recorded. Kitab al- ghurar wal- durar of Amidi, sidon, 1349
In his talks and speeches he expounded the most sublime IsIamic sciences in a most elegant and flowing manner. He established Arabic grammar and laid the basis for Arabic literature such works as the Nahw ( G rammar) of suyuti, Tehran, 128 etc, VOI, II, Ibn, Abi- I- Hadid VOI, I, p, 6
. In his talks and speeches he expounded the most sublime IsIamic sciences in a most elegant and flowing manner. He established Arabic grammar and laid the basis for Arabic literature such works as the Nahw ( G rammar) of suyuti, Tehran, 128 etc, VOI, II, Ibn, Abi- I- Hadid VOI, I, p, 6.
He was the first in IsIam to delve directly into the questions of metaphysics ( falsa fahi- ilahi) in a manner combining intellectual rigor and logical demonstration. He discussed problem which had never appeared before in the same way among the metaphysician of the word. seeNahj al- balaghah
Moreover, he was so devoted to metaphyics and gnosis that even in that heat of battle he would carry intellectual discourse and discuss metaphysical questions Amidst the fighting of the Battle of jamal a Bedouin asked Ali. Oh, Commander of the Faithful !you say God is one? People attacked him from two sides said: Don’t you see that Ali is worried and his mind occupied with so many diverse matters? Why do you engage in a discussion with him ? Ali told his companions Leave this man alone My goal in fighting with these people is none other than to clarify true doctrines and the ends of religion Then he set out to answer Bedouin, Bihar al- anwar VOI, II, p, 65
He trained a large number of religious scholars and IsIamic savants, among who are found a number of ascetics and gnostics
among who are found a number of ascetics and gnostics who were the forefathers the Sufis, such, men as Uways al- Qarani, kumayl al- Nakhai, Maytham al- Tammar and Roshaid al- Hajari These men have been recognized by the latter sufis as the founders of gnosis in IsIam. Others among his disciples became the first teachers of jurisprudence theology, Quranic commentary and recitation Ibn Abi I – H adid VoI, pp, 6-9
1) Reviving the manner of the prophet (p. b.u.h)
As a result of his just and upright manner of living he revealed once again the beauty and attractiveness of the way of life of the Holy prophet, especially to the younger generation In contrast to the imperial grandeur of Mu’awiyh, he lived in simplicity and poverty like the poorest of people, he never favored his friends or relatioves and family above others nor did he ever prefer wealth to poverty or brute foce to weakness.
2) Reviving the inteuecfual and religious sciences
Despite the cumbersome and strenuous difficulties which absorbed his time, he left behind among the IsIamic community a valuable treasury of the truly diving sciences and IsIamic inter llectual disciplines Nahj al- balaghah and hadiths found in books of both sunnis and Shi’ites
Neary eleven thousand of his proverbs and short sayings on different intellectual, religious and social subject have been recorded. Kitab al- ghurar wal- durar of Amidi, sidon, 1349
In his talks and speeches he expounded the most sublime IsIamic sciences in a most elegant and flowing manner. He established Arabic grammar and laid the basis for Arabic literature such works as the Nahw ( G rammar) of suyuti, Tehran, 128 etc, VOI, II, Ibn, Abi- I- Hadid VOI, I, p, 6.
He was the first in IsIam to delve directly into the questions of metaphysics ( falsa fahi- ilahi) in a manner combining intellectual rigor and logical demonstration. He discussed problem which had never appeared before in the same way among the metaphysician of the word. seeNahj al- balaghah
Moreover, he was so devoted to metaphyics and gnosis that even in that heat of battle he would carry intellectual discourse and discuss metaphysical questions Amidst the fighting of the Battle of jamal a Bedouin asked Ali. Oh, Commander of the Faithful !you say God is one? People attacked him from two sides said: Don’t you see that Ali is worried and his mind occupied with so many diverse matters? Why do you engage in a discussion with him ? Ali told his companions Leave this man alone My goal in fighting with these people is none other than to clarify true doctrines and the ends of religion Then he set out to answer Bedouin, Bihar al- anwar VOI, II, p, 65
3) Training the metaphysical and religious scholars
He trained a large number of religious scholars and IsIamic savants, among who are found a number of ascetics and gnostics
among who are found a number of ascetics and gnostics who were the forefathers the Sufis, such, men as Uways al- Qarani, kumayl al- Nakhai, Maytham al- Tammar and Roshaid al- Hajari These men have been recognized by the latter sufis as the founders of gnosis in IsIam. Others among his disciples became the first teachers of jurisprudence theology, Quranic commentary and recitation Ibn Abi I – H adid VoI, pp, 6-9
Categories: Bliefs / Religion and prophecy / Religions
IsIam/ Muslim/ shia
Sources :
shiah - pages: 81 to 90